Political BDS Fails

Amid dueling cries of “anti-Semitism” and “Islamophobia,” the New Orleans City Council voted 7-0 Thursday to rescind a human rights resolution it passed on a 5-0 vote just two weeks ago.

The Jan. 11 resolution, which calls for a review of contracts and investments to make sure city money doesn’t go to support human rights violations but mentions no specific groups or violators, was quickly hailed as a victory for an international movement to boycott Israel over its treatment of Palestinians.…

…Williams previously told WWL-TV he felt duped by the New Orleans Palestinian Solidarity Committee that had pushed the original resolution.

Dec 25, 2017 – “We will continue to work consistently to expose European funding for Palestinian organizations that delegitimize [Israel].” Norway’s decision comes just days after fellow Scandinavian country Denmark said it will revoke funding from several Palestinian NGOs and tighten aid criteria for others after they were found to be tied to anti-Israel activities.

Aug 22, 2017 – “In halting payment to WATC [Women Affairs Technical Committee], the Swiss follow similar moves by Denmark and Holland. The radical Palestinian NGO is one of many funded by these countries through the Ramallah-based Human Rights Secretariat, with an annual budget of $4 million,” he added.

Paul Furia, a spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry, told the [Jerusalem] Post that “I can’t comment specifically on the AFPS [the France-Palestine Solidarity Association] PayPal account, nor speak on behalf of the company to tell you whether or not the account should be canceled.

“However, I want to point out that calling to boycott of Israel is indeed illegal in France. Several decisions of the highest criminal court [the Cour de Cassation] confirmed that calling to boycott breaks the law and constitutes an ‘incitation to discrimination or hate based on national origin or religion.’”

Economic BDS Fails

(Extract from an analysis at the Brookings Institution that supports the premise of our BDS Fail updates – the impact is minor. In fact, as we show, may often be counterproductive – Ed.)

The data suggests that, economically, anything short of official sanctions by important economic partners such as the United States or European Union would be unlikely to produce anything near the kind of economic pressure BDS supporters envision. Moreover, if such sanctions were enacted along BDS (as opposed to E.U.) lines, it would likely strengthen Israeli suspicion of the goals and motivations of BDS, making them—the key of BDS’s strategy—less willing to cooperate.

The Israeli government is thus doing itself a disservice by paying so much attention to this movement, both through its own deeds and words, as well as through lobbying with other countries to enact anti-BDS legislation. It is only providing more fuel to a fire that is small to begin with.

Elbit Systems Ltd., Israel’s largest non-government-owned defense company, said Thursday a unit has won a $150 million deal with the Australian Department of Defence to provide support services to the Australian Defence Force for its battle management systems.

The contract won by Elbit Systems of Australia Pty Ltd. is for five years, with optional extensions of up to seven years.

Economic indicators for Israel showed another successful year in 2017 as, for the first time ever, Israel’s GDP per capita has surpassed that of major industrialized countries such as Britain, Japan and France.

The failures of the Arab boycott and later the Boycott Divestment Sanction (BDS) campaign movement to destroy Israel’s economy are no less spectacular than the Muslim Arab failures to defeat Israel in the military battlefields. Israel’s economy is far stronger today than when BDS was launched in 2005.

The Economist publishes an annual global report with numerous data on the countries of the world. In its newly released report, Israel’s GDP per capita has, for the first time ever, surpassed $40,000. According to the Economist’s data, Israel’s GDP per capita grew from $38,127 in 2016 to $44,019 in 2017.

Israel’s economy expanded by 4.4 % during 2017, the highest growth rate among advanced economies. By contrast, the GDP per capita of France was almost $41,000 and nearly $40,000 for Japan.

Israel’s third place is driven by similar strengths to Switzerland. It has a good capacity for innovation, high quality scientific research institutions and strong private sector spending and collaboration on R&D.

Israel’s Export and International Cooperation Institute (IEICI) has calculated that Israel’s exports of goods and services exceeded $100 billion in 2017 – 5% more than in 2016. Goods exports to the European Union (EU) grew 20% to $16 billion, accounting for 35% of Israel’s 2017 total … The main factor in the increase was the economic recovery in these countries.

Despite being engaged in nearly perpetual conflict with Palestinians over the division of land, Israel has developed into an economic hub in the 69 years of its existence. The densely populated country has focused on growing its high-tech industry, a change from its agricultural roots. Israel has one of the fastest growing GDPs of the 25 richest countries, increasing 4% in 2016.

Accounting for all economic activity within Israel’s borders — in addition to wealth generated by Israeli-owned entities operating abroad — the average Israeli income is just over $36,000 a year.

This week, I leave for my first overseas visit of the new year, to promote all the UK’s financial and professional services industry has to offer the world.

I will be heading to Israel, where I will be promoting London as an innovative and dynamic financial centre. Israel is a trusted friend in the region and a natural partner for British companies.

Israel is a perfect example of a country with which we should form closer bonds when we leave the EU: a growing and outwardly focused, entrepreneurial nation with world-leading expertise in the industries of the future such as cyber, fintech, coding, and green finance.

After all, the UK is Israel’s second-largest trading partner, so I expect to meet with enthusiasm for our relationship to develop further over the coming years.

The numbers are in – Gal Gadot is officially the highest-grossing actress of 2017, as her film, Wonder Woman, amassed $1.4 billion worldwide. She is also the third highest-grossing actor overall, according to Forbes’ latest

At his first-ever show in Israel Tuesday night, Rock gave the 10,000-strong audience in Tel Aviv’s Menorah Mivtachim Arena a taste of what has made him a comedy legend in America: high-intensity, raucous commentary on the human condition, delivered in an expletive-laden, undulating tone.

While the 52-year-old has never performed in Israel before, he did visit the country in 2008, along with Ben Stiller and Jada Pinkett Smith, for the Israeli premiere of “Madagascar 2,” in which Rock voiced Marty the zebra.

“I’m loving this country. Israel, yeah!” he offered after one of the many applause breaks.

The hypocrisy of claiming to support ‘freedom of conscience’ while boycotting an entire country and its people is breathtaking. I’ve got news for these self-proclaimed freedom-supporters: when you constantly bully and shame people who disagree with your political opinions, when you don’t respect the freedom of conscience of those who choose to perform in Israel, when you try to shut down artistic events and censor an entire country, you are not a supporter of freedom.

I was briefly arrested on 29th November 2017 while kicking and breaking styrofoam signs of the BDS goons on Berlin’s Alexanderplatz. Last week I received a letter that the charges would be dropped due to there being no public interest in the matter.